By Dr. Josh Mulvihill
gleaned from the epistle of 2 Timothy. Paul wrote 1 and 2
Timothy to explain how a local church is to be managed, to
clarify the role of a pastor, and to highlight important prin-
ciples for faithful shepherding. In the second letter, Paul’s
great concern is for Timothy and his continued faithfulness
to Jesus Christ. This letter provides a glimpse into the char-
acteristics that are necessary to take a young person and
make him or her into a lifelong disciple who has firm faith
and a fruitful ministry for Christ. In total, we will explore
six characteristics from 2 Timothy 3 in two articles (part two
will be in the next issue of The Renewanation Review).
CHARACTERISTIC #1: MINISTRY ASSESSMENT
(2 Timothy 3:1-4)
Paul understood the times. He clearly articulated the chal-
lenges Timothy would face in ministry, which Paul summa-
rizes as “times of difficulty” (3:1). Paul had a pulse on the
passions of people. The emphasis on love stands out: lovers
of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers
of God (3:2-4). One of the ways to measure the spiritual state
of a young person is to identify what he or she loves most.
Paul’s understanding of the human heart and the spiritual
state of people is the mark of a good shepherd and a strong
ministry. Do you have a pulse on the hearts of young people
in your care? Do you have a measurement tool to help you
understand where people are at spiritually?
If you are not measuring your ministry, then this is a crit-
ical area to address. There are many reasons I could list, but
I will mention two.
First and most important, God evaluates church lead-
ers. There are two noteworthy examples in Scripture worth
recognizing: God assessed the seven churches in Revelation
2-3 and evaluated the faithfulness of His servants using
stewardship language. For a good devotional study, explore
the stewardship language of Scripture and note what God
measures in the seven churches in Revelation. False teach-
ing, sound doctrine, love, faith, and patient endurance are
some of God’s criteria for assessment. What he doesn’t
measure is equally telling. God is assessing our ministry,
so we would be wise to do so as well and seek to align our
priorities and practices with His.
The second reason to measure our ministry is to gain a
clear picture of reality. Max DePree once said, “The first
responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” 1 We have
to get serious about understanding the reality of what is
happening with families and young people in our church.
As pastors, we often make assumptions about what is
happening in homes. Some assumptions are correct, but
many are not. The truth is, assumptions are dangerous.
Many church leaders assume homes are healthy, disciple-
ship is occurring, Christian convictions are strong, beliefs
are established, and individuals are much further along in
their walk with Christ than they truly are. However, that
isn’t the norm in churches, and both research and my own
experience confirm this reality.
As I work with churches all over the country, I’ve
observed six challenges you must be aware of as a church
leader if you want to help young people treasure Christ and
impact their world.
• No family worship, intentional plan, or training by a
church. “A majority of parents do not spend any time
during a typical week discussing religious matters
or studying religious materials with their children ...
parents typically have no plan for the spiritual devel-
opment of their children, do not consider it a priori-
ty, [and] have little or no training in how to nurture a
child’s faith.” 2
• Infrequent church attendance. “The average child
attends an evangelical mega-church less than two times
per month.” 3
• Strong media and educational influence. The average
young person logs ten hours of TV, video, and inter-
net per day and 16,000 educational hours between
K-12. “Children will be in school 60 times as much as
in church.” 4
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